A plan by local community leaders in Simcoe County and York Region could one day connect Highway 400 and Highway 404.

Bradford Mayor Rob Keffer is among those leaders pushing the province to link the two highways. The plan would see a new four lane wide, 16 km long highway running somewhere near the 8th Line in Bradford.

Keffer says the idea is decades old and he wants it on the province’s priority list.

“We're hoping to get the province to realize with the amount of growth and both Simcoe County and York Region that now is the time to get it in the growth plan.”

About 40,000 people drive out of Simcoe County for work every day. Another 10,000 drive in and it's believed this proposed highway would help people get to where they are going a lot faster.

“It's critical to the south end but also critical to the north end of the county where manufactories based often times gets calls saying, ‘I can't pick up your product, get there in time or deliver product to you because we can't get there in time,’” says Gerry Marshall, Simcoe County Warden.

As for the province, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation is studying the local traffic needs, but this highway proposal isn't part of any official plan yet.

People can send comments to the MTO to try to change that.

The plan will be updated in 2018.